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Mercury Prize for The xx

The present members of The xx are Oliver Sim, Jamie Smith and Romy Madley Croft. At the 2010 Mercury Awards this magnificent band received recognition when they were awarded the Mercury Music Prize. They had eleven other contenders to beat, as it was a distinguished list of nominees, but they reigned supreme. The xx not only walked away with the Barclaycard Mercury Prize but also £20,000 in prize money. This London-based band enjoyed every minute of their well deserved victory, and was grateful to have such an honor bestowed on them.

The xx was formed in the year 2005 and started off as a four piece band, which included Baria Qureshi, who was their keyboardist until 2009. They are currently with the label Young Turks, and have released four singles that have taken the music industry by storm, namely Basic Space, Crystalised, Islands and VCR. The band has been traveling extensively on their XX Tour that kicked off last year and is still ongoing. The xx have also made appearances at numerous festivals, including Sasquatch, Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo and Coachella. They were selected as the headline act for the All Tomorrow’s Parties Festival, which was curated by Matt Groening.

Also in the running for the Mercury Prize was Biffy Clyro & Connie Baily, Laura Marling, Paul Weller, I Am Kloot, Dizzee Rascal, Mumford & Sons, Kit Downes Trio, Foals, Wild Beasts and Villagers. The Mercury Awards were hosted at the Grosvenor Hotel, and after winning this prestigious award, Ollie Sim spoke on behalf of The xx, saying: “We have had the most incredible year and it's felt like every day we have woken up to something incredible that we weren’t expecting.” Sim went on to describe the last year for the band by adding: “It's felt a bit like a haze to us, being here has been a weird moment of clarity. It just means so much." Of course, the first question on everyone’s mind was how the band was going to spend their prize money. It seems that there might just be a new studio being constructed in the near future.

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